Mahoning County Board of Elections is moving polling locations out of some schools

Mahoning County Board of Elections is moving the locations of some polling places effective with next month’s primary, including six out of schools for safety reasons.

Board Director Joyce Kale-Pesta said the decision was out of concern over potential safety risks having voters in hallways with students or having the same entrance as students.

“It’s a safety measure for schools,” she said. “We’re getting out of those schools. I’d rather be safe than sorry with kids.”

The board is no longer having polling locations at Martin Luther King Jr., Williamson, Harding and Paul C. Bunn elementary schools in Youngstown as well as the Center for Community Empowerment, which has a preschool in Youngstown, as well as Poland Seminary High School.

Polling locations at Chaney and East high schools are remaining because there are separate entrances to the polls in which voters won’t come in contact with students, Kale-Pesta said.

Actually, voters in Youngstown Precinct 1B who used to vote at the Center for Community Empowerment will now cast ballots at East.

The board has changed other polling locations for different reasons, Kale-Pesta said.

It’s leaving St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown because there isn’t enough parking. The polling place is moved to the nearby Museum of Labor and Industry (Steel Museum) on Wood Street.

Voters also no longer will cast ballots at St. Dominic Church, 77 E. Lucius Ave., also in Youngstown, because officials there didn’t want polling locations at the church anymore, she said.